Warrior's Fall
by SuperSonicChaos
Summary: Aeliran, the Emerald Warrior, holds a secret that may destroy the world. The demon Super Sonic, however, holds a secret that may save it.
1. Chant the Chants

If I owned the Sonic Characters, I wouldn't live in this cheap apartment. Sonic Characters belong to SEGA/Fleetway.

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A winged hedgehog looked into the sky, then to a plain yellow hedgehog,

((Looks like rain tonight sometime. What do you think,Mylin?))

The yellow hedgehog looks up from his knot he was tying, understanding the mind speech perfectly,

"I never can tell, Aeliran. Why?"

((Because if it rains, flying gets hard, if even impossible. I'll have to run later,)) Aeliran explains with a sigh, ((and my sandals aren't much for my speeds.))

Watching the other flip his wings in agitation, Mylin chuckles,

"Poor Aeliran. Has to have the inconvience of walking, the poor thing . . ."

((Mylin, I'm gonna bust your skull with a rock!)) Aeliran mock growled, with a fang-toothed grin, ((Either that, or I'll put you through my labyrinth.))

"Mercy, not THAT!" Mylin smirked, "The Warrior's Maze!"

((You know,)) Aeliran tapped his foot, ((it's been awhile since we've pestered uh, I mean, SEEN the rest of the Warriors.)) he grinned again, ((You up for it, or are you still afraid of Rubi?))

Hearing the tone of disgust in the Emerald Warrior's tone, Mylin shook his head,

"I still can't see why you don't like her. She's the nicest tiger someone could meet outside the Wildlands, unless you get in a fight with her."

((She was born of Ruby, like I was of Emerald,(( Aeliran snarled, ((now let's go!((

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Super Sonic awoke with a start, instinctively hissing and gathering his strength for a fight. Red swirls scanned the area, searching for something to maul for waking him. Disappointed for not finding anything, the hedgehog grumbled,

"Stupid, stupid! Trying to sleep, you know it don't help you none! Get your hide up!" Hearing a faint noise, he pricked his ears in the direction it came.

"Where are we, anyway?" a whiny voice asked, "I'm tired!"

"We can't stay in this cave, Katrina! Your parents will have a fit!" a quieter voice answered, "I was supposed to get you home last night!"

Scowling, Super stretched like a cat, fore and aft, and looked in the direction of the conversation. A little away from the cliff he was on, he saw two coyotes, neither could have been older than sixteen, one boy and one girl. Yawning, the hedgehog found himself almost wanting to leave them be and go search for that emerald he sensed nearby. Ascending off the floor of the cave, he just stared and waited.

Because even he knew that almost doesn't count.

Katrina gasped, as a scraping above them sounded.

"What's that? Sean..."

"I don't know. Now come on," Sean whispered, glancing around. Not seeing anything, he shrugs, "Stay near me. There's nothing here."

"Wrong on that count, 'friend'!" snarled a gold blur, as it flew just over their head. It whirled around, preparing for another attack and ended up slamming into a barrier.

"What in the world?" Katrina gasped as Super fell to the floor of the cave and took a step back, and Sean shook his head,

"Not a clue, but I don't wanna be around when he gets outta there! Let's go!" they began to run.

"Do you think that your tricks will stop me??" Super hisses, and fires beams from his eyes, "Yi-!!" he flipped over the twin beams that flew straight back at him after reflecting off the barrier, and landed on a rock.

Chaos is power, power-

"Oh no," Super backed up, trying to get away from the voice that, to him, resonated from everywhere, "Oh no, oh no...Get away! Away from me!! No more! I know noth-"

While running toward the mouth of the cave, Katrina stumbled as she heard a shriek from the area that they'd just left.

"Don't fall! My grandfather said that that's one of his tricks! If you fall, you die!"

"No, don't you hear? There's something else!"

"He's playing with you! Now let's go!" Sean ordered, "I'd rather face your father's anger at not getting you home than Super Sonic's playtime!!"

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"Aeliran, why are you wearing that crazy pendant?" Mylin griped, "It's bigger than your mouth!"

((That's not hard. I hardly open it,)) Aeliran grinned, displaying his fangs, which Mylin shuddered and looked away from,

"And get those teeth filed, while you're at it."

((Why? So I have to miss the beautiful reactions that I get?)) Aeliran snorted, and looked through the emerald in his hand. He then scowled, ((Recite the Emerald's Chant.))

"Again?" Mylin groaned, sitting on a rock, "Why don't YOU recite it? You're the Warrior of the Emerald!"

((And YOU are the Keeper of the Emerald! The Keeper has to know the chant as well as the Warrior! Now RECITE!)) Aeliran growled.

"For having a control emerald, you're still terribly chaotic!" Mylin snapped. Grabbing him, the gold hedgehog slowly repeated as if talking to a child,

((Recite...The...Emerald's...Chant. And get it right the first try.))

Having no choice but to stare into those twin irises of fire, Mylin weakly stammered,

"C-chaos is p-power, power enriched by the heart. T-the control-controller is the one that u-unifies the chaos-"

((WRONG, Mylin!)) Aeliran growled, and tossed the other aside. Then winced, realizing what he'd done, and helped Mylin up, ((I didn't break you? Good. Now, there is two parts to the Emerald chant. The Guardian's half, and the secret half. I can't teach you the second half until you learn the Guardian's.))

"You didn't break me, but I don't appreciate being thrown to the ground!"

((That's why I chose you to be the Keeper,))Aeliran faintly smiled, a look that chilled Mylin to the marrow in his bones, ((You always come back. ALWAYS.))

"Aeliran, recite the whole Chant for me. Just so I can hear it. I've never even heard the Guardian's..." Mylin trailed off, hoping the change of subject would work and kill that wild look in the Warrior's eyes. Apparently it did, for the chaos hedgehog nodded,

((You will never repeat this. Not until you learn it, AND not until you have a purpose.))

"Understood."

((All right. 'The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos-'))

"THAT'S where I messed up."

((Correct. Now, I will say the half that no one, save myself, has ever heard. However, to make sense-AND hopefully grind it into your mind so you won't forget again-I will say the whole.))Aeliran closed his eyes, (('The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that serves to unify the chaos. However,')) the gold hedgehog's mind voice became fainter, (('the controller is no jewel, rather, a warrior. Chaos of nature and red of eye, dependant upon the Calming stone and Power jewel to keep his mind and powers in check.')) Aeliran trailed off completely, standing in silence.

And making Mylin wonder why the winged one looked so worried.


	2. Flying Free

I still don't own any of the sonic characters. And the delay is a result of writer's block.

This ought to have better formatting, now that I'm semi-used to it. Apologies for the roughness of the last chapter.

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Super Sonic held his ears until the chanting ended, and dared to crack an eye open to look around. Nothing. Slowly uncurling from a knot of quills, he took a shuddering breath.

As he sat, he realized that the barrier was still blocking him from exiting the cave. Wanting to know what it was, he stood up and wandered to the area that he'd recently gotten finished cracking his skull on.

"Hm. Not electromagnets. So I should be able to get outta here..." he pounded a fist on the still very solid barrier, "But yet it's still pretending to be diamond." Growling, he punched the barrier with all his strength and cursed like the demon he was,

"It's almost as if I put this cursed thing up myself!"

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((C'mon, Mylin! Let me fly you! You'll forget all about that argument!)) Aeliran called to the tiny speck that was nearly under his shadow.

((...)) the tiny yellow speck below kicked some sand, and continued on its path.

((Listen to me. I know she was wrong but you didn't have to push it.)) after being ignored the billionth time, Aeliran shrugged and decided to concentrate on his flying.

Mylin looked up at the wild loops and twists that his friend was making in the air, and finally could not take it anymore,

((You're right, I WOULD forget about the argument!! I'd be too busy trying to make sure that gravity wouldn't take me or my stomach out of your grasp!!))

((I didn't say HOW you'd forget the argument!)) Aeliran's mind voice was giddy--he LOVED the sensation of flight! He snapped his wings closed and held them tightly to his body, not changing course. Almost...almost...nearly...THERE!

He had completely stopped in the sky, his forward thrust diminished.

A tiny smile touched his lips, as gravity began to take back over.

The ground began to come closer to him, welcoming him with rocky hands and dirt palms.

Just before he met the earth with velocity enough to kill him, he snapped his flame like wings open and glided near the ground a second and then tilted them just a touch.

Instantly he was airborne again, higher than any falcon could dream to go.

Mylin just watched this insanity and shook his head,

((You're gonna kill yourself one of these days!! And where did you have the permit to grow wings? Hedgehogs are ground creatures, not birds!))

((That's your problem,)) Aeliran's mind voice held a note of excitement, ((You're doomed to a life on the ground. In a way, I pity you, mortal creature. You'll never know the truths of freedom.))

((Aeliran, I'm more than happy to be on the ground. I've seen your sky battles,)) the yellow hedgehog tapped his fighting staff on the ground twice, and could almost make out the gold sheen of his friend above, ((They're worse than the ones on the ground! At least here you know where you'll end up!))

((You're right. I don't know if I'll be headed into rocks or mountians or even a spiral dive that's out of my control. Then again, neither does my opponent.)) Aeliran replied, ((And as far as I'm concerned, I need someone on the ground to be dealing with whatever's waiting on me.)) he executed a barrel roll.

Mylin was shocked into silence.

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Super Sonic woke with a start. He looked around and growled as he noticed that the barrier was still up.

"Ok...I guess that beating the barrier won't work. And I know I can't use powers on it," he absently rubbed the back of his left thigh where the power-whip had backfired, "And I'm not gonna get outta here whining about it!!"

He suddenly winced as his long claws poked into the already sore flesh of his thigh and cursed.

"Waitaminute..." he looked at said claws and the barrier.


	3. Remember Me

Aeliran, Mylin, and the Jewel Warriors/Keepers are the only characters that belong to me in this story. Sonic Characters are copyright to SEGA.

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Chapter 3  
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Super Sonic had had just about enough. As if being trapped and giving himself a concussion wasn't enough, he'd just broken off about two of his claws on that barrier. Normally, he wouldn't mind that at all, but this time he'd HAD to cause them to cut into the quick.

After wearing himself out cursing and stomping around the cave, he sat down to give the matter a little thought.

"And it would help if that flipping chant would shut up!" he shouted at the chant that was echoing around the cave again, "I don't care if Chaos is power! I just want OUT!!" trying to ignore the chant again, he murmered, "It's not if I don't know the chant anyway. Emeralds know how many times I've said it. That time with Chaos, then Shadow..."

He stood straight from his cross legged sitting, and paced in a couple circles.

"If I don't get outta here soon..."

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Mylin looked to the sky, and wished for a half second that he hadn't been talking about battles.

That's all the time he had to curse himself, though, before he had to backflip out of the way of an attacking power creature.

This thing was about six times the height of Mylin, covered in slimy, poison spikes. It was faster than a hornet on speed and drooled a bluish substance out of it's mouth. The creature began shrieking,

"GRRRRAAAAEEERREEE!!"

((myl...Myli...MYLIN!! Ignore it!!)) Aeliran's breathless voice finally reached the grounded hedgehog.

((Whuh?)) looking up, Mylin's eyes widen as the power creature roared at him again. He leaped out of the way, just as the thing tried to bite him. "Yeez, ugly!!" he brought his staff to meet the creature's open mouth, knocking it to the ground.

Aeliran was doing some arial acrobatics around a flying demon. Trading height for speed, he tucks his wings close to him and shoots past it in a dive. Following suit, the demon twisted around so the birdhog couldn't get behind him.

((Your momma must've died when she layed your egg!)) Aeliran taunted, as he snapped his wings open to give a kick to the demon's head, ((Because you had to have cracked while in her! I hope you enjoy your meeting with--)) here, Aeliran shrieked in pain and blind rage as the mind bond between him and Mylin--the only thing keeping him half sane-- was severed.

From a controlled dive, Aeliran began falling as if he was shot.

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Super Sonic had knotted up again, not understanding where this memory of a fallen winged hedgehog came from.

"Hah!" spat a throaty growl, "You were a coward to begin with, and you still are! They call you the Mobian terror!!" as Super unknotted, he witnessed a scale winged biped with horn like projections all over it's body, "Hello again...and farewell..."

"Who are you and what do you mean?" Super demanded, getting to his feet. The creature sneered,

"They were right! Well...I'll make it easy on you. It IS the last thing you'll know, after all. I am Sear'ca."

"'Sear'ca'?" Super echoed, puzzled. He was interrupted from his thinking as Sear'ca knocked him against the wall of the barrier.

"YES YOU FOOL! The final key is to destroy the Warrior! And I shall!"

"The...Warrior?..."

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Aeliran, who was fighting the insanity of a broken mind link, had run away the demon. The power creature was in shreds on the ground...hearing a weak whimper, he tosses the rest of the thing to the ground. The broken warrior tried to call his partner's name,

((M..li.?))

Another whimper answered, and Aeliran set to find it. What he found made his blood run cold. Mylin looked as if he'd been chewed, and then beaten. The bruises were visible through his yellow fur...The winged hedgehog quickly knelt down beside him, and moved as to check for a pulse.  
Not able to help himself, Aeliran recoiled from the touch. Mylin's arm had felt like there was nothing but mush in a tight fitting casing. Tears fell freely from Aeliran's firelike eyes,

((M..li.. Wha....pp..ened?)) of course, he knew what had happened. The creature Mylin had been fighting produced a variant of spider venom. Mylin exhaled one last time, and his chest failed to rise again.

After he performed final rites for Mylin, Aeliran buried him in a cave with a barrier to protect the grave from robbers. That was the last thing that the Warrior did before he was captured by the demon that he'd carelessly let escape.

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Coming to himself with a start, Super Sonic barely had enough time to kick Sear'ca away where he couldn't be bitten. "YOU! You hired that thing that killed Mylin!!"

"Hmm...good things don't last do they?" the demon snarled, "But you are trapped, I can kill you on my time."

"Think again..." Super growled, and as the chant began again, he spoke, "Chaos is power, enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos...The controller is no jewel. Rather a Warrior. I have fallen from my former grace, I beg you allow me another chance...there's no way I can fight this as I am!"

The same barrier that had been keeping Super trapped now was keeping the demon from attacking through it, as a pair of wings slowly faded in on Super. First yellow, then orange, then red, and finally a flame colored blue...In a flash of multi-colored light, an emerald pendant appeared on his chest...  
He opened his eyes, which had changed from red, demonic swirls to irises that were half green and half purple.

"All right, Sear'ca...time to finish my job! Fire fall and wisdom's failed! I shall DESTROY your evil trail! SEVEN COME TO THE ONE!" as he was speaking, the barrier fell, and Sear'ca lunged toward Aeliran.

Aeliran fell to his back, and kicked Sear'ca into the wall behind him, headfirst. He then hops up and sends a blast of emerald power and lunged forward with an ancient knife he grabbed from the floor of the cave. Shielding himself from the power attack, Sear'ca copies the kick that had been used on him.  
Rolling on the ground in a spindash type trick, Aeliran spins into Sear'ca's wing, leaving it useless. He then uncurls and punches the demon in the throat. Staggering back, the demon pauses a second and then uses his claws to rip the hedgehog's wings.

"You missed!" Aeliran taunts, keeping to himself the fact that he won't be able to fly for awhile, and immediately dodges to keep from having the whole wing torn off. Sear'ca floors Aeliran with a left hook and smirks,

"Fool...You claim to be the Warrior...it will be as fun seeing you die as it was that usless keeper..."

"No. I'm tired of playin with you." Aeliran growls, and fires a glob of purple onto the demon, "You can die like Mylin did..." while the demon tried to wipe the poison off, he jumped up and stabbed it in the heart, then the eyes to make sure.

As the demon faded from sight, so did Super's wings.

_Thank you, Mylin, for putting a good word in. May you rest in peace forevermore..._


End file.
